Page:History of India Vol 9.djvu/173

 BUDDHIST SCHOOLS 139 idle lives, abounding in food and luxurious in their dress, men without any good quality or attainment, and on such persons come shame and disgrace, and their ill repute is far spread. The doctrines of the Tathagata (Buddha) may be comprehended by men of different qualities; but, as the time is now remote since the Holy One lived, his doctrine is presented in a changed form, and is there- fore understood orthodoxly or heterodoxly, according to the intelligence of those who inquire into it. The different schools are constantly at variance, and their contending utterances rise like the angry waves of the sea. The different schools have their separate masters, but they aim to reach one and the same end, though by different ways. There are eighteen schools, each claiming pre-emi- nence. The tenets of the Great and the Little Vehicle differ widely. There are some of the followers who give themselves up to meditation, and devote themselves, whether walking, standing still, or sitting down, to the acquirement of wisdom and insight. Others, on the contrary, differ from these in raising noisy contentions about their faith. According to their fraternity, they are governed by distinctive rules and regulations, which we need not name. The Vinaya (Chinese Liu), the Abhidharmas, or Discourses (Chinese Luri), and the Sutras (Chinese King), are equally Buddhist books. He who can ex- plain one class of these books is exempted from the control of the prior of the monastery. If he can explain